Thursday, February 23, 2017

The hardest thing to get E to do during the winter is to wear a sweater, so we have to have lots of long sleeve shirts that can go under sleeveless and short sleeve tops. Flashback to last summer, when long sleeves and sweaters aren't needed!

The kids love watching Daddy change the oil on the vehicles. E also learned how to ride a big girl big (with training wheels) last summer. It was amazing to watch her practice and practice while still needed us to push her to get started, and then all of a sudden she could start and turn with no help. Now we need to work on leg strength to ride on the gravel roads by our house...

Here, E is trying to show little brother how to blow up balloons (even though she can't really do it herself). He was her little shadow last summer, and some things definitely haven't changed yet ;)

Thursday, February 16, 2017

We took a family vacation to Wisconsin this past summer. It was a family reunion of sorts with my mother-in-law's family. I hope to share more details about this fun get-away to Door County... but it may not happen until next summer ;)

We had a few fun handmade sightings while there!

It was a 10 hour drive just to get there, so of course we had to stop at a few parks on the way to stretch our legs! I can't believe E's skirt still fits, and it appears that it will continue to do so for awhile... yay yoga-style waistbands!! She still loves how twirly it is and she still loves Minnie Mouse!

We stayed a cute resort with nice rooms and fun balconies (great distractions for the littles!) We recently had to retire the pajamas that E is wearing here, but they still fit last summer. We were thankful to have older cousins there to help distract the kiddos, too :)

The kids' first time bowling! The entire family ate out at a nearby restaurant, and the kids received free games of bowling with their kids meals. It was so fun to see the kids learning and to have their grandpa and great-grandpa showing them a thing or two. We look forward to more bowling fun soon! I think this dress was her favorite one that I made all summer. I'll have to remember the fabric combo for future creations :)

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Welcome to my first edition of "Handmade in the Wild" where I share pictures of items I've sewn being loved and worn :) You see, I love sewing, but I also love seeing the items I've created out in public doing what they were intended for!

Here we are at the farm... I didn't make these items to be worn together, so it was a happy coincidence that they really went together well.

No worries if the outfit gets dirty - that just means they are having fun! We are able to visit both grandparents a lot, since they both live about an hour and a half away in different directions. Summer visits mean lots of exploring and playing and having fun!

Patterns: Skipper Top by Sew Much Ado and Bonny Leggings with added circle skirt by Made for Mermaids

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Wow! Just realized that I never shared this post once I gave the quilt away! I made this quilt when I was making quite a few other baby quilts for friends (link to all posts about baby quilts), but then I saved it while waiting for someone to have a baby girl :)

A friend of mine finally had one this past summer, and this quilt made the journey to New Mexico. As it turns out, that friend actually moved to my town just four months later, right after Christmas - I am loving having my friend and her family so close!!!

The quilt was made with panels of paper dolls - I don't have any information about it, as it was a gift when we were still living in Montana. I made the corner blocks from some 30s reproduction squares that I had in my stash. The yellow was also in my stash, along with the backing fabric. Since I didn't want to machine quilt through the paper doll blocks, I did some straight line quilting around the blocks and then used embroidery thread for inside the blocks.

There is nothing like quick baby quilts for stash busting! (My goodness, she was so little... but I guess these were taken two years ago!)